


After the Storm

by Yastach



Category: Scott Pilgrim (Comics), Scott Pilgrim - All Media Types, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Other, Side Story, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 03:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19432996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yastach/pseuds/Yastach
Summary: This story is a direct follow up to the story "Shadow of a Doubt".This takes place directly before Lucas Lee's battle with Scott Pilgrim.





	After the Storm

Gideon Graves sat in his lavish office with his feet propped upon his alabaster-topped, whitewashed, antique oak desk. Enya was playing gently in the background as he busied himself with organizing his weekly schedule on his iPad Air. As he typed, one of the lights on his desk phone began to blink red. With a bored sigh, he leaned over and pressed the button.

“Speak.”

“Lucas Lee is here to see you.” A pleasant female voice responded.

“Send him in.” He said as he removed his feet from his desk.

When Lucas stepped through the door he was taken aback by the extravagance of the room. Everything was resplendent in white. There were even giant, tone-on-tone, white and grey paintings adorning the walls. The only splash of color in the room was Gideon himself. His carefully quaffed brown hair framed his slender face and accented his black, horn-rimmed glasses. His blood red shirt was in stark contrast to his pristinely white suit coat and the entire look was offset by a plain black tie. 

Lucas Lee felt extremely underdressed. He had been called off set again and hadn’t had time to change into street clothes. His shirt was disheveled, and sweat and dirt marred his ruggedly chiseled face.

“Lucas, so very good to see you.” Gideon purred and sat his iPad on his desk, “Please, have a seat.”

“Um… you said it was urgent?”

“Sit.”

The chill in Gideon’s voice spurred Lucas to quickly obey. The faux friendly demeanor he had displayed earlier had already evaporated, and Lucas immediately felt uncomfortable under Gideon’s reptilian gaze. 

Gideon folded his hands on his desk, “I’m afraid that Matthew failed in his mission to eliminate Scott Pilgrim.”

It took a moment for Lucas to process Gideon’s words. He felt a knot of anxiety forming in the pit of his stomach, “…where is he?”

“I told you… he failed.” He sat back in his chair, “I’m afraid he’s not coming back.”

Lucas was horrified. If Matthew with all of his powers had failed, what chance did he have against Scott? His mouth was dry as he spoke, “But h-how did Scott defeat him?”

“Honestly I have no idea. Beginner’s luck?” Gideon said flippantly with a shrug, “Apparently this Scott is a more formidable opponent than I estimated. I heard that Matthew’s defeat was quite brutal and messy.”

Gideon studied Lucas’ face closely, “You seem upset. Were you two close?”

“No.” Lucas managed to croak out, “I barely knew him.”

A thin smile played across Gideon’s pale face, “That’s good, I’d hate to think I was being insensitive.”

As much as it pained Lucas to deny his friendship with Matthew, he knew better than to display any weakness around Gideon. He cleared his throat, “Is that what you summoned me for?”

“Partially. I actually have another matter to discuss with you.”

The dark undertone in his silky voice immediately put Lucas on edge, “Oh?”

“I had the darndest conversation with Todd the other day. Lovely lad, he came to me to tell me that he had sensed a ‘disturbance in the force’.” Gideon did air quotes for emphasis, “So of course I asked him what the hell he was talking about.”

The knot in Lucas’ stomach tightened.

“Long story short… very long story, that boy can talk…” A predatory leer crossed Gideon’s face. The eyes behind his thick glasses were absolutely feral, “ He told me that he telepathically overheard you and Matthew discussing your plans to leave the League.”

Lucas was silent.

“No reaction?” Gideon purred, “I would think you'd want to defend yourself against such slander. Or was Todd correct?”

“It’s not like that…”

“Really? Todd said, that you said, and I quote, ‘with your money and Matthew's mystical powers you and he would disappear’… and ‘Gideon would never find us'.” He quipped, “There was some also some babble about Matthew never having to work at Dairy Queen again.” He paused for effect. He was taking great pleasure in Lucas’ discomfort, “Did I miss anything?”

All of the color had drained from Lucas’ face. 

Gideon calmly stood and walked around to the front of his desk. He leaned against the edge so that he was face to face with Lucas, “At least Matthew in all his infinite wisdom was planning to at least TRY to complete his mission before leaving… so that’s a plus for him. But you...” He clicked his tongue in disapproval, “My dear Lucas… it sounded like you just wanted to outright leave.”

Lucas’ throat was so tight with fear that he couldn’t talk even if he wanted to. For all his strength, he was completely at Gideon’s mercy.

“I have to admit I’m hurt, Lucas.” He said with a pout, “Was it something I said? Surely you can’t have forgiven Ramona for what she did to you?”

“I just wanted my old life back.”

“Ah, I see. And you couldn’t just tell me? Am I truly that intimidating to talk to?” Gideon’s maddening smile returned, “I’m not an unreasonable man, Lucas. If you wanted out, all you had to do was say so.”

Lucas sensed a trap, “Really?”

“Well… there is a caveat.” Gideon replied, “But if you REALLY want to leave I’m sure you’d be willing to oblige.”

Lucas was leery about agreeing to anything when Gideon was in such a mood, but he was also out of choices, “W-what do I have to do?”

“Just kill Scott Pilgrim.” He said simply, “Once you’ve done that… then you can go back to being a big fancy movie star with no worries, and you will never hear from me again. Scouts honor.”

“…what if I can’t kill him?”

Gideon pursed his lips, “Then you will end up like Matthew. Either way, you will be out of the League.”

Lucas wasn't sure how to respond. 

"Do we have a deal?" Gideon purred. 

“So no matter what I have to fight Scott…” Lucas said hesitantly, “Are there no other options?”

“Well I could kill you myself.” He said without skipping a beat, “I’d prefer not to go that route… but if that’s really what you want, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Fine… I’ll fight Scott.”

“Splendid.” Gideon clapped his hands, “Wow, that was uncomfortable. Let’s move on, shall we?”

Lucas nodded and fell silent again as he awaited his fate.

“So now that Matthew is no longer with us, it’s officially your turn. I’ve already set up your fight.” Gideon continued, “Scott will be meeting you on the set of your movie tomorrow.”

“What time?”

“I scheduled it for the afternoon.” Gideon was positively glowing with energy, “I find fights so much more exciting."

“Okay… I’ll prepare myself.”

“Great. This was a good talk.” He replied, “May you have better luck at defeating Scott than Matthew did.”

Gideon’s words sent chills down Lucas’ spine. He knew that he had effectively been given the kiss of death. As he stood to leave, Gideon spoke again.

“Oh and by the way, it was very tender gesture of you to invite Matthew to run away with you. He really didn’t have any other friends. Matthew was a bit of a loser, honestly.” He said offhandedly, “You should take comfort that your promise to take him away from all of this was probably his sole motivation to win against Scott.”

“Yeah… sure.” Lucas muttered and began to walk away.

“And close the door on your way out.” Gideon called after Lucas as he walked out of the office, “Good luck!”

Lucas felt physically ill as he walked down the long corridors away from Gideon’s office. The knot in his stomach had never gone away. He was thankful that he had skipped lunch since he was certain that he would have thrown up by now. 

He felt so betrayed. He had no idea that Todd had the ability to read minds, it seemed his Vegan powers knew no boundaries. He knew he would have to be extremely careful with his thoughts until he was finally able to escape Gideon’s control. 

It hadn’t been a complete lie when he told Gideon that he didn’t know Matthew very well. He had only met him several months prior when the league was first formed. Lucas remembered finding Matthew's overall appearance absolutely ridiculous. With his crooked haircut and oddly matched clothing, he resembled a kind of emo pirate. His "Ramona" story was equally absurd as he had only "dated" her for a little over a week. 

Matthew had been standoffish at first, but eventually he warmed up to being in Lucas' presence. Despite his flamboyant antics, the strangely dressed emo pirate was just extremely awkward and shy. It took several weeks for him to admit to Lucas that he had been so scarred by Ramona that he was terrified of becoming too close to anyone. 

As far as Lucas could tell, Matthew never went out of his way to hang out with any of the other League members. Lucas completely understood this aversion. Roxy was self absorbed, the twins only talked to each other, Todd was an idiot and Gideon was evil incarnate. Lucas was really the only one that seemed even remotely capable of accepting Matthew for the strange creature he was. 

Lucas began to notice that he always seemed to be in Matthew’s company when they weren’t training. He was just easy to talk to. Despite their drastic physical differences, Lucas found that he had more in common with Matthew than he could have ever imagined. In the short time they were friends, he had told Matthew things that he wouldn't have revealed to even his closest family members. As much as it pained him to admit it, Matthew was probably the only one in the League that Lucas ever felt comfortable being around. 

He remembered the first time that Matthew had shown up on the set of one of his movies. It had been utter chaos. While Matthew was distracted, his demonic entourage had gone absolutely wild, several people were scratched or bit before Matthew had finally regained control of them. Lucas had been furious but eventually he saw the humor in the situation. Matthew was just an maladroit emo kid with way too much power. It was hard not to find his awkwardness somewhat endearing.

The hope in Matthew’s eyes had been almost tangible when Lucas promised to not leave him behind. He now realized that he was literally all that Matthew had. He had never felt so guilty for just allowing something to happen. If Matthew had just listened to him, he would still be alive. He didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

Lucas reached the end of the hallway and stopped walking. He didn't expect Matthew's death to weigh so heavily on him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steady himself. 

Killing Scott Pilgrim had become personal now. It was no longer a matter of obeying Gideon's orders, he wanted to avenge Matthew. It was the least he could do for his fallen friend. He would do everything in his power to make Scott pay for killing Matthew. 

End


End file.
